Coulda, woulda, shoulda

Last week I finally got around to watching the season finale of The Good Guys.  And, while I’ll admit it seemed to be the best episode to date, I’m pretty sure I’ll be deleting it from my DVR to-do list next year.  Not that I’m happy about it, mind you.  If you tell me Matt Nix (creator of the regularly entertaining Burn Notice) has put together a light-hearted cop/buddy show, and it’s going to star the amazing Bradley Whitford (is there anyone who doesn’t still get chills watching him bring Josh Lyman to life?), you can bet I’m there.  I was really looking forward to enjoying this show.

Unfortunately, the show just didn’t click for me.  Maybe it’s because Dan Stark—Whitford’s rather annoying character—revels too much in his own stupidity and sloth.  Or maybe it’s because he and his partner, Jack (Colin Hanks, maybe best known for his work in Roswell), really are the most unlikely of pairs, and they’re only buddies on the clock.  There’s some hinted at true affection and concern there a time or two, but we’re not talking Starsky and Hutch here.

Or maybe it’s something as simple as the truly irritating flashback thing they do, where they rewind the story any amount of time to show a different viewpoint of the plot.  Gimmicks shouldn’t take the viewer out of the moment, and that one does it to me every single time.

It could be any of those things, a combination of all of it, or something else entirely that I’ve just yet to put my finger on.  All I know is when I watch the show, I am invariably left with the feeling that I’ve just lost an hour of my life I’ll never get back.  And that’s too bad.  I really wanted to like this show.  And, as I said, the finale really was the best episode yet.  I don’t know; I might talk myself into giving it one more try.  I haven’t erased it off the DVR scheduler yet.

White Collar 2.02: Need to Know

I am way behind on my entries here, even as far as my White Collar obsession, much less actually chatting about anything else.  Real life does so get in the way of the fun times sometimes.

But to go back a few weeks to the second episode of season two, we find our heroes digging into the world of campaign finance irregularities.  And while I like good political intrigue as much as the next person, I have to say that this has been my least favorite ep of the season so far.  (Which wasn’t saying much at its original airdate, but now that I’ve seen six episodes, the statement carries a tiny bit more weight.)  As a side-note, I’ll also point out that “Threads” was my least favorite episode of season one, and it was ep 1.02.  Maybe I’ve got a thing against the number two spot.

But, to get back on point, “Need to Know” had some excellent moments, and a decent enough premise for the case of the week, but there just seemed to be something missing.  Now, don’t get me wrong, it was a light and lively episode, and fun to watch, but I think the biggest problem is that their “decent premise” for the case never really got past that.  You’ve got a staffer for a state senator alleging campaign irregularities, and it goes without saying that you need to get your resident con-man inserted into the campaign if you want to bring down the politico, but how to do that?  Well, make the con-man the perfect political fixer and you’ve got a pretty good head start, but then the senator needs a problem to be fixed, too.  That’s a little bit of a setback, because the only real problem the guy has right now is that one of his staff can’t be trusted to check his morals at the door. 

But that doesn’t slow the boys down for long; Peter just rattles the senator’s cage with a years-old scandal and then sends Neal in to mop up.  From that point on, Neal unleashes the renowned Caffrey skills (read: BS) and creates an issue—in this case, an argument over whether a piece of real estate should be used for a football stadium or a local park.  The fact that no stadium project is actually underway does not stop the entire city—including Mozzie—from getting caught up in a “save the park” crusade.  It’s a complete wag the dog type of deal, except that the senator is being blindsided as much as he intends for his constituents.

And then things get a little blurry, with a second set of ledger books containing all the details about the illegal money schemes, and high-end prostitution, ultimately managing to link the dirty money back to the senator himself and bring the guy to justice.  It works, as long as you don’t look too closely.  But I can forgive a lot, because we got some really excellent scenes with Diana undercover working the prostitute angle.  To quote Neal: “It’s good to have her back.”  It’s great to see Diana becoming more fully developed, and I especially like to see her and Neal getting to know each other better.  It’s nice to know that Peter isn’t the only fed who can see past a criminal record to the guy underneath.

But the pairing that’s even better than Neal and Diana this week is Peter and Mozzie.  I’ve truly grown to love every moment that they’re together on screen, and this week’s scavenger hunt is no exception.  Seeing them work together—and Neal knowing that they would—is priceless.  The quest to get that stash of money though (to help out Diana in her undercover gig, of course) leads me back to a question I’ve pondered many times:  just how much money does Neal have?  I think it might be mind-boggling.

But for all the Peter/Moz and Neal/Diana love that I have for this ep, the real reason to watch is still Peter/Neal, and this week’s tension is brought to us by the ongoing story arc of the music box and exploding plane.  Peter and Diana are still investigating, and still without letting Neal into the loop.  But Neal isn’t oblivious, and the most stellar moment of the episode is when he catches Peter in a blatantly bad cover story.  But the agent doesn’t back down, leading Neal to declare, “I’ve never lied to you.”  It’s a beautiful moment, with the upstanding law enforcement guy standing on the side of dishonesty for once, but believing it’s all for the greater good.  And to make the moment even better, Neal ultimately lets it slide, because he knows Peter well enough to guess the truth and understands the reason for the lie, even if he doesn’t like it.  It’s these moments—with their relationship on display—that make White Collar the outstanding program that it is, and I can’t wait to see more and more of them.

And, as a parting note, let me say that I was as amused as Neal by Super Mario Burke, and really, who could blame me?